Percy Sledge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Percy Sledge
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![]() Sledge at the 2010 Alabama Music Hall of Fame Concert
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Background information | |
Birth name | Percy Tyrone Sledge |
Born | Leighton, Alabama, U.S. |
November 25, 1941
Died | April 14, 2015 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
(aged 73)
Genres | R&B, soul, traditional pop |
Instruments | Vocals |
Years active | 1960–2014 |
Labels | Atlantic, Capricorn, Monument, Point Blank, Diablo, Sledgehammer, Virgin |
Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1941 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song "When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 1966. It was awarded a million-selling, Gold-certified disc from the RIAA.
Having previously worked as a hospital orderly in the early 1960s, Sledge achieved his strongest success in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a series of emotional soul songs. In later years, Sledge received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
Personal life
Sledge married twice and was survived by his second wife, Rosa Sledge, whom he married in 1980. He had 12 children, three of whom became singers.
Death
Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge on April 14, 2015, at the age of 73. His interment was in Baton Rouge's Heavenly Gates Cemetery.
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